neil martin 1 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Is there a general view of the most successful method to set up a small twin electric, specifically concerning thrust angles or using counter rotating props? I am building a model that will require 25-30 size electric motors and the plan shows 2 degrees required on the right motor/engine only. If I were to use a counter rotating prop, will it make the angle redundant? What about down thrust? This is my first twin so would be good to get a view from the wider community. Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 My views are precisely two twin engine models old, do with them what you wish. First, twins get attention. More than any other model I've had. Maiden it when its quiet, unless you like an audience! Also, twins with electric power seem like cheating 🙃 Thrust angles: Dead ahead works. Some right thrust on the right engine also works. Don't overthink it. It's not a deal breaker as far as I can tell. If you have counter rotating props, the funny thrust angles argument vanishes in a puff of (magic?) smoke. Downthrust, do whatever you do normally. I use a degree or two, but, that works for my specific models. What are you building? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil martin 1 Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Hi, it's a tony nijhuis 1/10th scale beaufighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 In that case I'd build as per plan! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 I have had half a dozen twins over the years and all of them had the engines dead straight. None of them caused any issues and nor has prop rotation. In fact these days i mount all of my engines dead straight in all models and just get on with it. The side trust argument is a hangover from the old days of freeflight where the model had to be trimmed to fly on its own. outside of a few specific use cases its more or less irrelevant for RC flight. We have a tall waggly thing on the tail to keep the model straight and i just use that. Also remember that being electric is not a guarantee that you will not have to deal with thrust asymmetry. Variations in components can still cause issues and you can still have failures of one kind or another causing an engine failure. Twin's glide like stones so you must maintain your airspeed if you do loose a motor. If you dont, its all over. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Asymmetric thrust can be a thing. Depends on the spacing of the engines, clearly. My twin fuselage effort, it is barely even noticable, on my conventional twin it needs some rudder to keep it tracking straight. With more airspeed comes more response to rudder and with that comes easier single engine flight. As Jon says, if you lose an engine, keep it moving. One thing it is well worth doing is practicing your deadstick landings. You may not truly need to "land from anywhere" if you have one stopped and one still turning, but knowing you can pull a greaser out the bag if everything goes quiet will give a lot of confidence when piloting a twin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 I'd still build it as per plan... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 6 hours ago, Mike T said: I'd still build it as per plan... So would i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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